The present invention relates to methods and apparatus to enable movement of patients, typically from one patient support surface to another. More particularly, the present invention is related to patient transfer devices and related methods, which involve moving the patient laterally (i.e., sideways) from one bed, gurney or the like to another.
xe2x80x9cPatient transferxe2x80x9d in this field refers to the process of moving a patient from one patient support surface to another. The need for routine patient transfer seems unavoidable in virtually all phases of health care. It is commonly required whenever a patient is moved from an ambulance stretcher to an emergency room gurney, from a gurney to an examining table or operating room table, from one type of therapeutic surface to another, from a bed to a wheelchair, and at many other transitions in between.
The manual patient transfer maneuver, however, is both physically and psychologically demanding. The typical process involves a team of two or more caregivers first lifting and then sliding the patient""s body sideways from the first surface to the next. Because the two supports typically have to be positioned side-by-side, at least half the transfer team is in an awkward position at any given point during the transfer, having to help lift the patient while they are bending and reaching over one of the supports. This can be fairly hazardous, particularly if one of the beds starts moving midstream. Large or obese patients are especially challenging, which is compounded by the fact that many caregivers tend to be petite in stature.
Because of such demands, health care workers who have patient transfer duties are at high risk for back injury. It goes without saying that the patients are likewise at risk due to falls or the like when caregivers are inadequate to meet the physical demands of transferring the patient. Although such risks are widely known and are well documented in current literature, the modern economics of commercial health care does not allow the industry to adequately address the issue, and injuries occur at staggering levels.
Patient transfer devices are likewise well known in the medical field and have long been used to help minimize the struggles, frustrations and hazards associated with patient transfer. The principal object of most patient transfer devices is to reduce the effort required in patient transfer and, consequently, reduce the risk of injuries to both patient and caregiver.
The most common device used to aid patient transfer is the draw sheet. Probably since the days of the earliest patient transfers, caregivers have simply gripped the bed linen beneath the patient and used the linen to help drag the patient across the surface of the bed. From that background, commercial draw sheets were then developed to facilitate the process. The principal characteristic of such commercial draw sheets is that they are made of high-strength fabric so as to resist ripping and tearing while in use. Heavy-duty cotton fabrics are typical, although variations have been known for particular applications. In the early 1980""s, for instance, Mediscus Products Limited commercialized special draw sheets formed of the same polyurethane-coated, vapor-permeable nylon material as the air cushions of their xe2x80x9clow-air-lossxe2x80x9d beds. Although generally simple and relatively low-cost, commercial draw sheets still require significant force to drag them from one bed to another.
Several other prior attempts to deal with such problems have utilized inflatable plenums to essentially xe2x80x9cfloatxe2x80x9d the patient from one support to another. Such plenums were typically xe2x80x9clog-rolledxe2x80x9d under the patient, and then inflated so that air would leak out from the plenum in order to reduce friction, letting the patient slide easily from one surface to the other. (xe2x80x9cLog-rollingxe2x80x9d refers to the typical process of getting a sheet or the like under an immobile patient without totally lifting the patient out of bed. The patient is first rolled to one side, away from the sheet, and the sheet is then pushed-in and bunched halfway under the patient. The patient is then rolled back over the bunched-up sheet to the other side, so that the bunched-up sheet can then be pulled the rest of the way under the patient.) Patient transfer devices using the inflatable plenum approach are thought to be commercially available under the xe2x80x9cAIR PALxe2x80x9d designation from American Industrial Research, Inc., of Newark, Del. The following U.S. patents represent several attempts in this direction: U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,704 (Jul. 16, 1985 to Wegener et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,426 (Dec. 9, 1986 to Wegener et al), U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,719 (Aug. 18, 1987 to Johnson et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,189 (Nov. 26, 1991 to Weedling et al.).
Others have tried to reduce the effort required in patient transfer by using thin, rigid or semi-rigid boards (sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cpatient shiftersxe2x80x9d) that can be slid beneath the patient to make it easier to either lift or slide the patient from one surface to another.
Other well-known attempts to ease patient transfer involve patient rollers, which had rollers on a thin frame mounted within a plasticized cloth covering to facilitate insertion of the cloth beneath the patient. Once the plasticized cloth was all the way under the patient, the entire assembly could then be lifted or pulled to facilitate transfer. Mobilizer Medical Products of Mount Vernon, N.Y., and presumably others, have produced powered versions of such patient rollers. With the roller linked to a powered base, the fabric is powered around the rollers so that it crawls under the patient. The base then uses hydraulics or the like to lift and pull the patient and the roller assembly off of the underlying patient support surface. The patient can then be moved to a new surface and the transfer fabric is rolled out from beneath the patient. Although effective, such powered devices are bulky and expensive.
The basic objective of Applicant""s present invention is to address the problems and obstacles of the prior art in facilitating patient transfer.
Within this general objective, it is Applicant""s objective to provide a simple, low-cost device and related methods for facilitating patient transfer and reducing the risk of injury to patients and caregivers. It is yet another objective to provide a patient transfer device that is both easy to package and easy to use. Among the many secondary objectives, it is also an objective to produce an effective patient transfer device that is attractive in appearance and comfortable to the hand of caregivers.
Although there may be challenges in balancing Applicant""s various objectives, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that certain aspects of the present invention may capitalize on the object of low-cost manufacture at the sacrifice of patient comfort or utility. Vice versa, other embodiments may capitalize on the secondary object of durability while partially sacrificing the low-cost objective.
Applicant addresses these and other objects by providing an overlapping or continuous flexible sheet as a patient conveyor. The sheet can be very thin and is ideally fabricated such that there is a low coefficient of friction between surfaces. Inert micro-bubbles or other forms of lubricant may also be applied between the opposing interior surfaces.
Preferably, the conveyor of the present invention includes a continuous loop of thin polyethylene sheeting, such as is commonly available for forming plastic bags.
Many other objects, features and advantages will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing and following discussions and descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, particularly when considered in light of the claimed subject matter.